Study yields insight on achieving sustainable forest management

Fri, 07 Mar 2008

Photo: Pham Quang Hoa, IUCN

A recent assessment of forest and land-use in Khe Tran village, located in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien Hue province in Viet Nam has provided useful information for policymakers and managers working to alleviate poverty through improving forest conservation, management and governance. The assessment was carried out as part of the regional Strengthening Voices for Better Choices (SVBC) programme, which works in sites in six tropical forest countries to improve forest governance arrangements.

At the SVBC site in Viet Nam, the project approach focused on participatory forest and land-use planning. Khe Tran village was chosen as the site for this approach because the area presented an opportunity to review distribution of natural forest between the state and local people. Key recommendations made by researchers and experts after a study of barriers to sustainable and equitable forest management in Khe Tran included: firstly, to consult with local stakeholders to revise the current benefit sharing policies and procedures of the village; secondly, to improve local legal access so that local people are aware of their rights; thirdly, to consider handing over management rights of the area’s natural forest to local people; fourthly, to seek to improve local linkage to credit institutions; and fifthly, to ensure senior-level decision makers are involved during the entire process of revising and implementing new policy to provide opportunities to gain an understanding of field-level capacity and capabilities.

These findings were presented at a national workshop on 25 January, 2007 in Hanoi, which was attended by legal experts, academics, and representatives of forest management organisations in Viet Nam. The SVBC project is supported as part of IUCN’s ongoing efforts to enhance forest law enforcement and governance, or FLEG, in Viet Nam and is conducted in partnership with the relevant agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and with Tropenbos International in Viet Nam.